To quote Tom Keifer, “You don’t know what you got ‘till it’s gone…”

It takes a few years of living outside Oklahoma (or, of course, Texas) to fully appreciate the gratuitous nuances the Sooner State has to offer, but there is probably none more viscerally glaring from California to the New York island than the lack of the complimentary Tex-Mex set-up—you know, the free chips, queso , salsa, warm tortillas, relish, etc., that typically greet patrons of Mexican restaurants with an edible bienvenidos as soon as they sit down to dine.

The first time it happens to you at an out-of-state Mexican eatery, it’s such a weird feeling of unacceptable loss as a sense of incompleteness casts a dank pallor over the social proceedings; you sit down and expect to have those fresh chips, warm queso and mild salsa there as an emotional buffer and conversational starter only to be taken away and replaced with forced sips of tap water in-between checking your phone and your seething towards your date as you wait for an entrée that is going to be devoured like a wolf in heat.

Forget the leftovers, ese.

We take for granted what a beautiful system and blessed service that a good majority of Mexican restaurants—many of our favorites, go-tos and stand-bys—in the Metro provide on a regular basis that keeps us coming back week after week, completely unaware that most people in this country ain’t got it so bueno. And, with that being said, here’s what I consider to be the five best joints for that most welcomed set-up of free chips, queso and salsa. ¡Cómpralo ya!